Odoo 17 to 18 View Migration: Syntax Changes and Examples

Overview

Odoo 18 introduced several view-level changes building on v17's attrs removal. While v17 was the major breaking change for views, v18 added new requirements, deprecated more patterns, and tightened validation. This guide focuses specifically on view migration with practical before/after examples.

List View Changes

The <tree> tag generates deprecation warnings in v18 (fully removed in v19). Start using <list> now:

Before (v17)

<tree string="Orders">
  <field name="name"/>
  <field name="partner_id"/>
  <field name="amount_total"/>
</tree>

After (v18)

<list string="Orders">
  <field name="name"/>
  <field name="partner_id"/>
  <field name="amount_total"/>
</list>

This is a simple find-and-replace but also update your inherited views that use xpath with //tree — change to //list.

Form View Requirements

Odoo 18 enforces the <sheet> wrapper in form views more strictly. Views without <sheet> may render incorrectly or throw warnings:

Before (v17 — worked without sheet)

<form>
  <group>
    <field name="name"/>
    <field name="description"/>
  </group>
</form>

After (v18 — sheet required)

<form>
  <sheet>
    <group>
      <field name="name"/>
      <field name="description"/>
    </group>
  </sheet>
</form>

Dashboard Views

Odoo 18 overhauled dashboard views. The old <dashboard> XML syntax was replaced:

Before (v17)

<dashboard>
  <group>
    <aggregate name="total" field="amount" string="Total"/>
    <aggregate name="count" field="id" string="Count" group_operator="count"/>
  </group>
  <view type="graph"/>
  <view type="pivot"/>
</dashboard>

After (v18)

Dashboard views now use a component-based structure with updated attribute names and grouping logic. Check the official documentation for your specific dashboard patterns, as the migration is not a simple rename.

Button Styling

Button CSS classes were updated in v18:

• oe_highlight class is deprecated — use btn-primary directly
• oe_stat_button styling was updated — check your stat button icons
• Button type="action" syntax changed for server actions

Before

<button name="action_confirm" type="object" string="Confirm" class="oe_highlight"/>

After

<button name="action_confirm" type="object" string="Confirm" class="btn-primary"/>

Field Widgets

Several field widgets were updated or replaced:

• widget="many2many_tags" — behavior unchanged but styling updated
• widget="statusbar" — validates field is Selection type
• widget="monetary" — stricter currency_field validation
• widget="html" — updated editor component (OWL-based)

Chatter and Activity

The chatter (<div class="oe_chatter">) structure changed in v18. If you have custom chatter positioning or styling:

Before

<div class="oe_chatter">
  <field name="message_follower_ids"/>
  <field name="activity_ids"/>
  <field name="message_ids"/>
</div>

After (v18)

The chatter now uses a component-based rendering. The field declarations remain similar but the wrapper and positioning within the form view follow new conventions. Place the chatter block after </sheet> as before, but ensure no custom CSS overrides the new layout system.

Search View Updates

• Filter syntax remains stable but domain expressions now accept the Python-like syntax introduced in v17
• Search defaults via context are validated more strictly
• Groupby fields are validated against the model at install time

XPath in Inherited Views

XPath expressions in inherited views are more strictly validated in v18:

• Malformed xpath raises ValueError at install time (previously silently ignored)
• XPath targeting removed elements raises a clear error instead of being skipped
• The position="attributes" operation validates that the target attribute name is valid for the element type

Migration Automation Script

For large codebases, consider writing a migration script:

1. Replace <tree with <list and </tree> with </list>
2. Replace //tree in xpath expressions with //list
3. Replace class="oe_highlight" with class="btn-primary"
4. Add <sheet> wrappers to form views missing them
5. Review each change manually — automated replacements can break xpath selectors

DeployMonkey

Use DeployMonkey to deploy Odoo 17 and 18 instances side by side during view migration. The AI agent can identify deprecated view patterns and suggest corrections.